Blog Posts

The Active Nature of Maya

Grace will light your way through the darkness of maya, which Christians call evil

Many enlightened teachers describe the influence of karma and how it keeps each of us trapped in an endless cycle of rebirths. They also talk about maya, the force that creates the illusion of separateness. While a person is under the influence of maya they see only separate objects and are unable to perceive the deeper reality that sustains all of creation. Yet most enlightened teachings do not discuss evil, the active nature of Maya that consciously impedes a person’s personal happiness and ability to progress spiritually… Read more

Drawing Your Awareness Within

The writings of Meher Baba and Ramana Maharshi have a profound spiritual transmission

I have found that reading an enlightened teaching changes my internal reality and the way I interact with the world. The grace of an enlightened teacher draws my awareness within, toward the Self and away from the illusion of separate objects. For some reason, the teachings of Meher Baba and Ramana Maharshi are the most helpful in drawing my intention deeply within. Three in particular are the most powerful: Guru Vachaka Kovai, God Speaks, and In God’s Hand… Read more

Meher Baba Quotes

Meher Baba an incarnation of the world savior

Read spiritual quotes from Meher Baba, the most recent incarnation of the world savior whose profound spiritual teachings took place in silence… Read more

Dreaming of India

The Ganges river and the ghatt in Varanasi India

India is a place like no other. There the veil between the physical plane and the deeper reality is very thin. And in the more holy places, it is much easier to touch the formless unity that permeates and sustains all of creation. I often envision leaving my current life behind and starting anew in India… Read more

The Christmas Church Service

A Christmas Church Service is often more of a play than a spiritual gathering

Each year my brother likes to attend the Christmas Eve service at a local church. It was nice to be in a room full of Christians. Everyone was in a good mood. The choir sang many Christmas songs. Children walked up to the front of the church dressed as characters from the story of Jesus’ birth. And passages from the Bible were read that pertained to Jesus’ birth. Yet something important was missing. People were focused on the external ceremony—the Christmas play that was being performed. There was little, if any, emphasis on each person’s internal connection with Jesus and the divine… Read more

Jesus Christ Quotes

Jesus Christ an incarnation of the world savior

Read quotes from Jesus Christ found in the Holy Bible. Jesus taught in parables that are frequently misinterpreted in the man-made Christian religion. And there is a deeper meaning that is often overlooked… Read more

Unplugging from the Matrix

To live at the highest level and progress spiritually you must unplug from the matrix--the illusion of maya.

I have spent far too much of my life immersed in the illusion of maya. The ego loves to keep the mind active and focused on anything other than the divine. In our modern society another level of maya has been created in which we lose ourselves in an artificial electronic world. We are constantly staring at our smart phones or immersed in some form of entertainment on the television or computer. The ego-controlled mind enjoys the stimulation and soon becomes addicted to it… Read more

Mother Meera Quotes

Mother Meera is an enlightened master and inrnation of the divine mother

Read profound spiritual quotes from Mother Meera, an avatar and incarnation of the divine mother who travels the world giving spiritual blessings… Read more

A Vision of the Trees

Trees are Spiritual Portals into the Deeper Reality

Working next to the window allows me to unplug somewhat from the matrix (maya) and tap into the deeper reality. The mind is more still during the day and work is more pleasant. I also found myself turning away from the computer and immersing myself in the stillness of nature. During my midday nap today, I had a vision of foliage that was just outside a window… Read more

Limiting Thoughts

Becoming free of the ego-controlled mind is the spiritual path.

It has become clear that most of my thoughts put some sort of limitation on what I am capable of doing. And they are lies. Any thought which appears in the mind should be viewed skeptically. They either arise from the ego, which is a part of maya. It is a foreign life form that has taken control of your awareness. It causes suffering by keeping you focused on external objects and trapped in the illusion of separateness. It uses fear to keep you from realizing your potential in life and from connecting with your deeper nature… Read more

Sri Aurobindo Quotes

Sri Aurobindo enlightened spiritual teacher and author

Read spiritual quotes from Sri Aurobindo, an enlightened spiritual teacher and prolific writer. He provides a unique insight on the spiritual path. He advises each seeker to surrender to the Divine Mother and reject the lower nature… Read more

The Setting Sun

Sunset at the Ocean a portal into the divine

Tonight I walked along the beach for thirty minutes and watched the sunset. As it does every night, the sun changes its mood during the ten minutes before sunset. Instead of projecting its energy outward, it begins to turn inward, and as it changes so do I… Read more

Dalai Lama Quotes

Read quotes from the Dalai Lama, an enlightened Buddhist monk who teaches emptiness, dependent existence, compassion, and liberation from rebirth… Read more

Meher Baba’s Grace

Meher Baba was the most recent incarnation of the world savior. Meher Baba and his teachings helped me to find my true spiritual path. His grace will uplift you and draw you closer to the divine… Read more

Mother Meera’s Grace

Mother Meera, an incarnation of the Divine Mother who gives darshans

Mother Meera is an avatar and incarnation of the Divine Mother. In her silent darshans, she will expose you to the Paramatman light. Her grace will removes karmic obstacles and bring you closer to the divine… Read more

Jesus Christ

Jesus is a world savior who incarnated on earth for the spiritual benefit of all life forms. He is a source of grace and a means of drawing closer to the divine. At its core Christianity is bhakti yoga, a religion based on devotion and surrender to Jesus. For many people the religious institution of Christianity has become synonymous with Jesus and his teachings. Yet they are not the same, and recognizing the difference between them will enable you to make greater spiritual progress… Read more

Ramana Maharshi

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi lived as a renunciant in a small town in India. Yet he became a well-known spiritual teacher. His grace has enabled thousands of people to progress spiritually. And during his lifetime a small number of his devotees attained liberation. Using the spiritual practices he recommended (surrender and self-enquiry) the stillness of the divine will became more accessible to you… Read more

Publishing First Spiritual Book

Into the Formless by Brian D. Stephens, spiritual book

Today is April 10, 2017 and it is a good day. The first book was finished and uploaded to Amazon. Now begins the process of marketing the book and letting the world know about it… Read more

Everybody Loves the Bubble Man

the bubbles made of soap by a man at the beach seem like bubbles on the ocean of consciousness

There are small cliffs that overlook the ocean in San Diego, California. On some nights a man will stand on the grass and create soap bubbles that are carried along the sidewalk by the ocean breeze. The bubble man brings a lot of joy to people. The children who are walking along the ocean with their parents stop and play with the bubbles, chasing and popping them. The bubbles remind me of the book God Speaks by Meher Baba. He uses the analogy of bubbles on the ocean to describe what happens to a soul when it appears in creation… Read more

True Freedom

Life tries to impose limitations upon us. Having the courage and the willpower to make a better life for ourselves is essential. If you don’t try, you feel powerless and become a passive victim of fate. Yet even if everything in your life were to work out just right—with your job, finances, relationships, and health—you would still not be free. True freedom is not something you find in your external circumstances. Instead, it is found within… Read more

Interacting with the Divine

endless thinking by the ego is the impediment to the divine

The divine is present within everything in creation. Yet most people are oblivious to it. Their awareness is trapped within the ego-controlled mind. So they perceive only forms and not the formless universal consciousness. When filtering reality through the mind, you are unable to experience reality directly. The mind gets between you and what is happening. The spiritual journey is about freeing your awareness from the confines of the thinking mind and experiencing reality directly… Read more

Brief Samadhi Experiences

After Mother Meera darshans today, I shut my eyes for a while and had two visions of the ocean at sunset. Spiritual visions are nice, yet they can also be a distraction. Meher Baba taught about the dangers of a seeker getting lost in the energetic planes. Some become so engrossed in visions that they do not focus on the deeper reality and their spiritual progress stalls… Read more

Connecting Life Forms to the Paramatman Light

connecting trees to the Paramatman light

I use the Paramatman light to help other life forms. I probably learned the skill unconsciously during my darshans with Mother Meera. Each life form has a physical body on the physical plane of reality and an energy body on the energetic plane. And it is the energetic body that I access. At first the light was projected into trees. Then the process expanded to birds, then insects, and now people… Read more